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boreal wormwood, field sagewort

armoise de Steller, beach wormwood, dusty miller, oldwoman, Steller's wormwood

Habit Perennials, (6–)8–20(–40) cm (cespitose), mildly aromatic; taprooted, caudices branched. Perennials, (15–)20–60(–70) cm (mat-forming), sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes creeping, relatively thin).
Stems

(1–)2–5, gray-green, tomentose.

1–3, erect or ascending, white, simple (stout), densely tomentose to floccose.

Leaves

persistent, basal rosettes persistent, gray-green to white;

blades ovate, 2–4 × 0.5–1 cm, 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed, lobes linear to narrowly oblong, apices acute, faces moderately to densely sericeous.

basal and cauline (petiolate), silver-gray;

blades oblanceolate, (proximalmost) 3–10 × 1–5 cm, pinnatifid (lobes relatively broad, rounded; distal leaves, on flowering stems, smaller), faces densely tomentose.

Involucres

hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–4 mm.

broadly campanulate, 5–8 × 6–7 mm.

Florets

pistillate 8–10; functionally staminate 15–30;

corollas (or lobes) yellow-orange or deep red, 2.2–3.5.

pistillate 12–16;

bisexual 25–30;

corollas yellow (narrow or tubular), 3.2–4 mm (unusually large), glabrous or sparsely hairy (style branches prominent, erect, blunt).

Phyllaries

(obscurely scarious) densely tomentose-villous.

broadly lanceolate, tomentose.

Heads

(proximal sessile, distal pedunculate) in (leafy) spiciform arrays 4–9(–12) × (0.5–)1–5 cm.

(erect or spreading, peduncles 0 or to 3 mm) in dense, paniculiform, racemiform, or spiciform arrays 8–20 × 2–4 cm.

Cypselae

oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.4–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.

(dark brown) narrowly oblong-linear (slightly flattened, smooth), 3–4 mm, glabrous.

2n

= 18.

Artemisia borealis

Artemisia stelleriana

Phenology Flowering early spring–fall.
Habitat Sandy soils, coastal strand
Elevation 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; NU; SK; YT; especially at high elevations and northern latitudes; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CT; DE; FL; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; n Europe; e Asia (Japan, Kamchatka)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Artemisia stelleriana is apparently native along the western tip of the Aleutian islands (D. F. Murray, pers. comm.). It is an attractive ornamental and, in parts of its range in the flora area, it appears to have escaped from cultivation and is naturalized in beach dunes and other sandy habitats.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Herbage villoso-tomentose, glabrate, or glabrous; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow-orange, 2.2–3 mm; mountains, w North America
subsp. borealis
1. Herbage white-hoary; corollas (at least lobes) deep red, 3–3.5 mm; w arctic North America
subsp. richardsoniana
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 505. FNA vol. 19, p. 532.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia
Sibling taxa
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa
A. borealis subsp. borealis, A. borealis subsp. richardsoniana
Synonyms A. campestris subsp. borealis
Name authority Pallas: Reise Russ. Reich. 3: 755. (1776) Besser: Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 3: 79, plate 5. (1834)
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